Tug at boot with wife cracking up (7)
I believe the answer is:
towboat
'tug' is the definition.
(synonyms)
'boot with wife cracking up' is the wordplay.
'with' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'wife' becomes 'w'.
'cracking' indicates anagramming the letters.
'up' becomes 'at' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'boot' after 'w' is 'wboot'.
'wboot' anagrammed gives 'towbo'.
'towbo'+'at'='TOWBOAT'
'at' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for towboat that I've seen before include "Tug" , "powerful vessel" .)